10 Points About the Nexus One Google Phone

eWEEK has read some of the 1,400-plus Nexus One reports and cherry-picked some points for you to enjoy and debate here. Will it be sold online, unlocked and subsidized by Google or with a two-year contract from T-Mobile, or both? Is Google risking alienating its current Android partners Motorola, Samsung, Verizon Wireless and Sprint? Questions and theories abound, with few concrete answers.

News Analysis: This Nexus One Google Phone story is
getting out of hand. It's reminiscient of satirical movies such as
the Scary Movie series, Not Another Teen Movie and others that mock slasher and other B-movie fare for teens. A copy of a copy of a copy.
Coverage varies from telling us why others are wrong to
writing pieces
that underline what is known, what may be known, and what we
don't know. All are scrambling for stakes in the Google News cluster,
which Dec. 15 listed a staggering 1,400-plus pieces on the latest
Android smartphone.

This Nexus One device has been given to Google employees to test before an alleged January release. The
HTC-made device has no physical keyboard, is super fast, powered by Android
2.1, which is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. There are proximity and ambient light sensors, and accelerometer: magnetic compass: Wi-Fi
radio and a noise cancellation chipset.

There is text to speech flavor, dual microphones, and the
device runs on GSM, which makes it a candidate for T-Mobile and AT&T's
networks in the U.S., and plenty of vendors overseas. The Federal
Communications Commission
has blessed it and Google has registered Nexus One as a trademark Dec. 10, according
to Engadget.
The device will be unlocked, but supposedly supported by
T-Mobile, and possibly sold by Google itself online and possibly through Best
Buy. Barring subsidies from either T-Mobile or Google, the smartphone could
cost $500, pricing it out of range of all but the geekiest of geeks and Google
fans.
What do the media and blogosphere have to say about all
of this? You just read some of it above. Google is mum beyond a
blog post acknowledging that a new device exists and has been given to Google
employees to test. EWEEK has read many of the reports and cherry picked some
points and rumors for you to enjoy here.
1. Nexus One Named for Blade Runner RobotsDaring Fireball noted the name
Nexus One appears to be a nod to the line of replicant cyborgs from late sci-fi
author Philip K. Dicks
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," upon which the 1982 film Blade
Runner was based. The New York Times went deeper,
speaking to Dick's daughter, who claimed Google did not consult her family
about using the Nexus One name. I smell a handsome payout in the Dick family's
future. One other note: Things didn't turn out so well for the replicants. Superstitious,
anyone?
2. Google Already Sells Phones
Technically, this is true. CNET is correct in pointing out that Android developers have been able to buy unlocked versions of
the G1 and the T-Mobile MyTouch3G for $399. EWEEK covered this a year ago here.
3. The Nexus One Is Just Another Android Phone
Slate.com's Farhad Manjoo noted:
"For the Google Phone to be truly stellar, Google would have to imbue it
with exclusive features-violating the core Google principle of platform
independence. I just don't see that happening; it's not in the company's DNA to
make software that works on one device alone." So every phone will
be a Google Phone. That may be the single best argument against a Google
Phone boasting exclusivity.